South London's Sound Lounge Defies All Odds To Open New Live Music Venue

Sutton, Surrey grassroots arts centre and community hub to open with safely-staged live shows and wide range of cultural events 

South London-based, not-for-profit music venue the Sound Lounge will open in a brand new, purpose-built community arts hub in Sutton, Surrey on December 12. Its opening programme of events will feature a stellar line-up of celebrated artists from both sides of the Atlantic as well as fast-rising talent from the roots, country and Americana scene. 

The venture will be a significant and much-needed cultural haven for greater south London and will stage concerts, showcases, record launches, interview Q&A sessions and album playbacks, as well as fringe theatre, poetry, exhibitions, workshops, vocational training and much more. All live events will be conducted in full accordance with current government guidance for limited and socially distanced live audiences. 

The venue will be introduced to media in an invitation-only event on December 9, with live performances by chart-topping UK country duo Ward Thomas and two-time ASCAP Award- winning singer-songwriter Charlie Dore. 

The Sound Lounge launch season, curated by venue patron, music journalist and broadcaster Paul Sexton, offers an array of award winners and chart-toppers. Graham Gouldman, the writer of such indelible hits as 'Bus Stop' and 'Look Through Any Window' for the Hollies, the Yardbirds' 'For Your Love' and 'Heart Full Of Soul,' and 'No Milk Today' for Herman's Hermits, will present his Heart Full of Songs show, featuring those and many others that he co-wrote with 10cc. 

Fellow Ivor Novello Award winner and Grammy nominee Chris Difford will bring songs and stories from his illustrious career with Squeeze including 'Cool For Cats,' 'Up The Junction' and 'Tempted,' and from his fine solo catalogue. Venue co-owners Hannah White and Keiron Marshall will celebrate the recent nomination of 2020's Hannah White & the Nordic Connections as UK Album of the Year by the AMA-UK, the UK's Americana Music Association. We're also delighted to welcome John Illsley, bassist and co-founder of Dire Straits, for a show featuring material from his extensive solo output and classics such as 'Sultans of Swing,' 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Money For Nothing.' 

Other regular features of Sound Lounge programming will also be part of its opening weeks in December and January. Performances will be streamed to the venue's live audience direct from the US, including sets by two of Nashville's finest: Gretchen Peters and Ashley Campbell. 

Peters, an inductee of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, won the CMA Song of the Year Award when Martina McBride covered her anthemic 'Independence Day'; her countless other hits include Faith Hill's 'The Secret Of Life,' George Strait's 'The Chill Of An Early Fall' and Trisha Yearwood's sublime 'On A Bus To St. Cloud.' Campbell rose to national and international prominence as the virtuoso banjo player and vocalist on tour with her father, true American legend Glen Campbell. A frequent UK visitor, she has recently released her second solo album, the acclaimed Something Lovely. 

Also in the launch line-up is the first in what will be a series of informal Q&A sessions in which Paul Sexton is joined on stage by some of the most notable names in music, not only artists but producers, engineers, broadcasters and more. His first guest is the distinguished and vastly experienced DJ David 'Kid' Jensen, who will bring a wealth of extraordinary tales featured in his new memoir, For The Record, just published by Little Wing. 

The venue, located in the centre of Sutton as part of a planned redevelopment of the lower high street by Sutton Council, will be open every day, offering a café, fully licensed bar and plant-based kitchen with a seasonal menu designed by co-founder Keiron Marshall, aka #TheCommonVegan. 

The Sound Lounge is on track to becoming the UK’s very first carbon neutral grassroots music venue, demonstrating its commitment to a sustainable high street and sustainable culture. This mirrors its dedication to its local community, as the team relaunches its AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance)-accredited barista and sound engineering training for local people suffering from disadvantage; weekly Friendship Coffee (free hot drinks) for those suffering from social isolation; and youth music sessions for young people without access to instruments or music lessons. 

In another exciting feature, the Sound Lounge will also have its own record store, a branch of the highly popular Union Music, based in Lewes, East Sussex, offering a wide range of new and pre- loved vinyl. 

The arrival of the Sound Lounge in Sutton is a human story of perseverance and determination, especially amid the almost impossible challenges of the pandemic, by co-founders and musicians Hannah White and husband Keiron Marshall. Cast adrift, like so many independent venue owners, into the financial perils of lockdown and a full-blown cultural crisis, they have overcome countless obstacles to bring the new project to its fruition. 

As musicians themselves, the pair understand all too well the perilous situation that was already facing the cultural sector even before the ravages of COVID-19. “We've been setting up and running venues for some years, so we're not lightweights,” say Hannah and Keiron, “but there's no denying that this has been hard. We've spent many evenings since the first lockdown with our heads in our hands wondering how we were going to survive the lockdowns. 

“But the landscape for live music was inhospitable way before COVID, so we were always prepared for a tough road. Our philosophy has always been to keep going until it’s physically impossible to do so. That seems to have served us well so far. Against all the odds, and with a lot of help from our supporters, we're making the impossible happen and we believe it’s exactly what is needed for communities, high streets and for the industry.” 

The Sound Lounge has a proud, award-winning history of bringing both culture and community to the south of London, from its early days in Merton and Tooting to more recent settings in Wimbledon and Colliers Wood. In May 2020, during its fundraising for the new site, it was named among GQ magazine's “best small music venues” in the UK, rubbing shoulders with Bush Hall in Shepherd's Bush, The Macbeth in Hoxton and the Moth Club in Hackney. The Sound Lounge was earlier described by Time Out as “Good news for London's music scene...hope for London music fans.” 

Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust, which has done so much to support the grassroots venue sector both before and during the pandemic, says: “In the midst of all the negative news surrounding the crisis, it's incredible to see the Sound Lounge establishing a brand new community- based venue in Sutton. Hannah and Keiron are typical of the passion within the grassroots music venue sector, and we couldn't be happier to see London get a fantastic new venue in such capable hands.” 

Adds patron and journalist Paul Sexton: “Everyone who's visited the Sound Lounge in its previous settings goes away feeling that they've been to far more than just a gig. They've also taken part in the sort of shared, community experience that exists in so few venues. Hannah and Keiron are about to make that happen again in this amazing new venue, and we can't wait to get started.”

www.thesoundlounge.org.uk